Board Layout

As there are just three M.2 ports on the PCB, there's quite a bit of free space in the center with two quite small, thin M.2 heatsinks. The top one is meant to be catering for the board's single PCIe Gen 5 M.2 slot, but it's doubtful it's going to do that with acceptable temperatures. It's also evident the PCB is missing other features compared to the Z890 model, such as an LED POST code display that was located in the top right corner. Still, the VRM heatsinks seem suitably large and there don't appear to be any major layout issues.


With everything removed we get a good view of MSI's EZ PCIe Release that we'll be looking at in more detail later on. MSI has a good spread of fan headers that will cater well to a variety of cooler and fan types and locations, which gains it a few points over Gigabyte's similarly-priced boards currently. For example, you get one fan header in the top left of the PCB, which can be useful for rear or roof fans, which on some other boards need to be routed to the lower edge of the PCB.


You get another three fan headers in the top so it's easily possible to power large liquid coolers, pumps or roof fans using local headers. If you're wondering about wattage, the primary CPU fan header tops out at 2 A/24 W while the pump header goes a step further at 3 A/36 W and the other fan headers are limited to 1 A/12 W. In addition to these there are both 3-pin and 4-pin RGB headers so cable tidying should be relatively easy in terms of placement.


The front Type-C USB header offers USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps support, but this is a major step down from the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbps and 27 W PD fast charging of the MAG Z890 Tomahawk Wi-Fi. MSI's EZ PCIe Release is easy to use, but requires you to press the button a second time to allow the securing mechanism to reset and to secure your graphics card when inserted again. Still, it's less haphazard than ASUS' implementation.


Thankfully there are still four SATA ports, though, as we have seen this cut to just two on some sub $250 boards recently, so transplanting old hard disks and 2.5 inch SSDs is easy. These and the USB 3.0 header have to be right-angled here as three and four-slot graphics cards will obscure them, but this aids cable tidying too. The bottom of the PCB is where the rest of the fan headers are along with two USB 2.0 headers, a second 3-pin RGB header and also the 1 to 2 EZ Conn-Cable. This is yet another downgrade from the Z890 model, albeit a minor one as here the proprietary connector splits into a 4-pin fan header and 3-pin RGB connector, while the 1 to 3 EZ Conn-Cable included on the Z890 model adds a USB 2.0 header there too.


There's no lane sharing with the M.2 ports and PCIe slots so no need to hit the specifications list to see if you should avoid certain slots. The only PCIe Gen 5 M.2 port is at the top as usual, but as we mentioned earlier the heatsink here doesn't feel up to the task of cooling a current hot-running PCIe Gen 5 SSD and also doesn't cool the underside, which we've seen to be beneficial before. The heatsink and M.2 port are at least tool-free, even if MSI's heatsink is a little fiddly to line up properly.


There's a second 8-pin connector on the PCB which MSI calls an 8-pin Supplemental PCIe Power Connector. This is for those that are installing flagship hardware and then maxing out the likes of fan headers and RGB headers, where MSI claims power may run short in extreme scenarios. Combined the 24-pin and additional 8-pin can provide 420 W combined power across fans, lighting and the primary PCIe slot.


The lower heatsink is larger and houses two PCIe Gen 4 ports, but sadly this isn't tool free and also lacks underside SSD cooling. However, it should be accessible even using large graphics cards. The protective strip for the thermal pad here is one piece too, rather than two pieces like it is on the Z890 model, which means the whole strip is exposed even if you only use one SSD. We'd probably suggest cutting this in two and replace the loose part to keep the unused pad protected and in good condition.


Finally we have the rear I/O panel. This ticks most boxes with a decent eight Type-A USB ports, with four of these being USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps in addition to the Thunderbolt 4 Type-C port that doubles as a second DisplayPort output, and a second Type-C port limited to USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps. There are two EZ Wi-Fi Antenna-compatible ports (these are also compatible with standard antenna connectors), ports for the onboard audio and you also get CMOS clear and USB BIOS Flashback buttons.